CRIME and PUNISHMENT

in LATIN AMERICA

AW AND SOCIETY SINCE LATE COLONIAL TIMES

RICARDO D. SALVATORE, CARLOS AGUIRRE,

& GILBERT M. JOSEPH, EDITORS

 Crimend
Punishnment
in Latin
America

Law and Socicty since Late Colonial Times

Edited by RICARDO D. SALVATORE,

CARLOS AGUIRRE, d

GILBERT M. JOSEPH

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Durham o London

2001
 The Criminalization of the
Syphilitic Body:
Prostitutes, Hcalth
Crimes, and Socicty
in MexicoCity, 1867-1930
CRISTINA RIVERA-GARZA

n July3, 1918, a committee formed by physicians Angel Gaviño

and Joaquín Huiciand lawyer Fernando Breña Alvarez drafted
a plan designed to prevent the spread of syphilis in Mexico.
Largely based on precepts of public health from the r917 Mexican constitu
tion and German laws that declared syphilis to be a hcalth crime, the Pro
philaxis of Syphilis in the Departmcnt of Public Health" proposed novel
measures to protect society from sexually transmitted diseases. First, it
required physicians to file official reports of any syphilitic patient under
their care. In addition, oficial health certificates issued by the Councid of
Public Health became mandatory for marriage purposes. A critical repBy
doctors
appeared quickly on July o. After painstaking and vocal debates,
Manuel Cañas and Edmundo G. Aragón argued that the plan worked the
the freedom ot
gainst the professional confidentiality of doctors and
through hcalth edu
Milvidual. Instead, they proposedto controlsyphilis dispensaries, and
cation, the hygienic information in state
he propagation of prostitution. Although the debate continued
Csified surveillance of compromise by the end of the
reached a
through the fall, the Committee monthly reports on their syphilitic
year. While doctors agreedto prepare and
allowedthem to omit names
Health
patients, the Department of Public fundamental level, however,
the
other idenifying references, At a more
 committcc poscd unscttling qucstions: Were syphilitic patients criminals
decade. of
punishmcnt? Aftera continuous
refdoerbmateesd,
descrve resounding «yes" when, in 1929, a
Ifso, did they with a
answercdpunishnentsforinfectedindividuals that spread the
penal codc
Mexican lwprescribed
discasc. Although short-lived, criminalization was a clear victory of post:
medicine.3
This cssav social
revoutionary examinesthe medical and socialIterrain in which thc syphilitic
body became acriminal construct, 11amcly public health and sex. This ter.
rain, just like discasc itsclf, was not onlya biological rcality but also a dense
nctwork of social relations. In following the thread of discase, this analysis
brings onto the scene a cast of ccccntric characters: doctors, prostitutes,
health burcaucrats in an unstable
policc agents, and public Context: the
murky waters of state formation. It was in their jolting contacts and mie
rorlike cncounters that syphilis became a health crime of sCxual nature, a
delitode contagioseNual y nutricio, also known as a delito de contaming-ik.
interscxual. 5
Medical concerns about syphilis were not new in postrevolutionary
Mexico. In fact, Mexican doctors had used the biological and moral dangers
associated with this condition both to support and to oppose the first
legislation to regulate prostitution in 1867. However, throughout the late
nincteenth century doctors regarded syphilis as a dangerous discase, a
moral defct, even an epidemic, but scldom considered it to be acrime. This
situation changed drastically after the r9r7 Mexican constitution provided
an administrative framework to intervene in the personal lives of itscitizens.
As the state became the promoter and ultimate protector of
public healtn,
State-sponsored health institutions gained an
cess to the bodies, behaviors, and social unprecedented regulatory
relations of the
complex administrative structure-- including the creation population."
of the DePrt
1
ment of Public Health and the
transformation of the Superior Sanitattot
Counil into a national institution-it served as
ment of an apparatus of social medicine which grounds for the deveio!
was as much a uridica,
technical and administrative branch of the
medical one.7 Thus, unlike federal government as it was a
claiming to defend the lives Porfirian physicians,
of innocent
postrevolutionary doctors
to establish penal victims came to favor and weree able
ilis, but also punishments for bearers of :social diseases: not only syph-
alcoholism eventually, drug
and,
The medical
vant because it debate around the treatment addiction.
syphilis is historically rele-
brings the domain of the bodyofinto the analysis of nation-
48
Cristina Rivera-Garz4
 Proccssesin Mexico. As physicians
puilding
Iron contagion, they discusset the cvaluated programnsof to protect
illness,resexual
sponsi
syphilisbilitals0
ics
SOICIY
public health. ILike no other
mattetsOof tooss:to the state in
scicntilic delincate accepted provi
nors with although medical data attributed the in ded doc-In
bchaviors socicty.
cmphasis on prostitutes as spreadof
adtition, of
demarcation of gender lines iin agcnts syphilis to both
disease contributed
othe
haraterof this
moderni
prOCCSS MUst be stressed.° zing Mcxico. Yet, the fragile
Although
campaigns contributed to
discascs
thc control and
such as smallpox and yellow
state-sponsored
eventual eradication of health
fever, success in the battleepidemic
casily. agaínst
Siphilis did not come
Antisyphilitic campaigns
hcalth authoritics and physicians, but also, and more
not only involved
tiutes,the alleged sourcc of biological and moral
infection. importaArmed
ntly, proswith
distinctive languages and experiences, these actors
theirideas
about the control of syphilis in a
common
forcefully negotiated
franework" material and mean-
ingful they helped shape, lo
The criminalization of the syphilitic body was aa
conflict-ridden
phenom-
on in Mexico. Attempts to regulate prostitution during the late nine
teenth century as well as the sharp increase in the production of sexual
khowledge in the field of medicine combined to create the sciendfc and
administrative basis to identify, control, and eventually punish sexual be
haviors deemed as deviant. Yet, syphilis was hardBy a secret disease si
lenced by repressive measures, On the contrary,syphilis became apopuiar
topic of discussion among physicians and health authorities;the parameters
of their discussions of deviant sexual behavior became the enunciative
boundarics of other, dissident voices in Mexico.l2 The bodies of proscitutes
played afundamental role in this articulation. On the one hand, as forced
patients at state hospitals,prostitutes became the basis for the emergence of
Mexican sexual science. On the other hand, prostitutes varicd strateges ot
eSStance against both the regulatory svstem and state hospitals shed ight
nthe tense dialogue that svphilis and its criminalization entailed.
In at play in the
to capture the various sstrrategies of power this
atempting
reformulation of syphilis as a health crime of sexual nature, studv ex-
plores three combined gave birth to modern dis-
COurses of interrelated arcas which
regulations of prostitution, the
sexuality in Mexico: first, the
century, inscribed boties
Dormative Structure which, by the
intothelaw; second, the
late nineteenth
Morelos hospital, the institutional
workings ofthe Sanitary Police, provided edical
aPparatus which, as medical branch ofthe BODY 149
CRIMINALIZzATION OF THE
 third, the underpinnings
underpinnings of sexual
care to) svphiliticprostitutes;
developed in and around the science in
Mexico, the medical discourse
women, notably prostitutes
welfare
cnrollcd in institutions. In anbodies of
in actual motion, as though astate of ettort to
capturc actorsand scens
energency
not the cxCeption but the norm in socicty, thecse arcas are not presented inisa
brought together as "momcnts of da
lincar way. l8 Instcad, they are
which wCre woven indecd, but through precarious, tense thrcads. 4
imized by the scientificimpulsc of the doctors and under thc approval of theLegit-
state, cach one of these arcas gencrated contested
relationships, which in
tun, created an unstablc, highly dynamic, contcxt. I have calledthis
the murky waters of state formation. In decrepit, humid
context
colonial buildings,
doctors andwomen faced cach other, becoming cach other's twisted mir.
ror. They proposed and eventually shaped a code of sexual behavior in
permanent contestation. This was not the case of two discourses that al.
rcady formed, opposedeach other, but the slippery case of the deployment
of local strategies of power in the very immediacy of contact. Antagonism,
ambivalence, and negotiation characterized this process; in short, struggle
and paradox. Keep in mind that, as the incorporation of syphilis-related
health crimes into penal codes was ephemeral, this is above all the contorted
story of a state failure.

Regulating Deviant Bodies

The first Reglamento de Prostitución en México was issued in 1867 in the
midst of vehement debate. 15 Written by physician Manuel Alfaro under the
administration of José Bacz, it attempted to prevent the spread ot svphiis
and other venereal discases by demanding that prostitutes enroll in a pubic
rCgistry, pay monthly fees to exercise their trade in a legal manner, nd
undergoweekly medical examinations. To ensure efficiency, the authorttes
concomitantdy established the Sanitary Police and, ayear later, they tune
the Morelos hospital into an institution solely devoted to the
litic women,i6 "Together, the Reglamento, the Sanitary Police, care ofand
sypr
the
Morelos hospital constituted the basis of anemerging regulatory
Mexico,17 Shorly thereafter, prostitutes disregard for the law syste
provoked
cven greater legislation. In 871, illegal prostitution gave rise to a lCW
regulation. Significantly, it accompanied arapid succssion of ordinances
designed to bring order to public life in Mexico Ciy. *Legislators further
modified the regulation in I898, 1913, I914, and again in 1926, whenred-
Cristina Rivera-CGarza
 districts becamc lcgally condoned,19 In
light 1935, however,
an.abolitionist
policy anddeclared prostitution Mexico opted
tor
As in Argentina,
public hcalth
concerns officially
played a
illegal.
oftheregulation of prostitution,20 pivotal role in the
issuing Critics of the
claimedthat ofticial toleration of
prostitution could onlyregulatory
incrcase system
the al-
read alarming growth of syphilis and other vencrcal
Mexican population. Like many other díiscases amnong the
wcakncss,21 This moral
ninetcasentwellh-centas uary doctors, they
clieved syphilis to be a biological condition
defect came to be bodily sign of a
moral
disylay of sCxuality by prostitutcs. Instcad of
associated with the overt
favorcd prosccution of prostitutes. regulation,
in their therefore,
they
P'rostitutio,
crime against public health.22 Supporters of the regulation,opinion, was a
Used similar claims to promote social tolerance of nevertheless,
canitarv concerns, physicians and lawyers successfullyprostitutíon. Voicing
urged the state to
nrotect the good elements of society from health and moral
contagion by
creating a stringent system ot bureaucratic vigilance to supervise the dis
cased bodies of the prostitutes.23 Both parties, however, shared the
hygien
ists' cugenic view that syphilis was a major factor in the
degeneration of the
race, and hence a direct threat not just to public health but, by
extension, to
progress and national development an idea that infuscd public health
policies with a sense of true urgency.
Dr. Manuel Alfaro, a recognized surgeon and the intellectual father of
the regulation, soon became a major moral erusader against prostitution
and its pernicious effects. He brought not only his medical knowlcdge to
he held but also an insistence on creating an objective anaBytical system to
sudy, and thus combat, this social problem. Combining statistical data,
firsthand interviews with public women, and numerousinternational stud-
ies on the topic, he set up the basis for the creation of prostitution as asocial
category, a fixed identity in the realm of sexualityin Mexico. Thus, under
Alfaro's influence, the 1867 regulation divided prostitutes into wo catego-
ries: putas públicas, who lived in a house of prostitution or bordello; nd
putas aisladas, who used a hotel or lodging house (caSA de paso) to pertornm
their trade. Further ranking included the classitication of prostitutes a-
location of heir
ording
the
to the
S, and
status of their clientele, the geographic
the fees they charged. The natrona or woman in charge ot
the bordello paid monthly fees for each pupil: cight, tive, andthrec pesos
or prostitutes of first, second, and third class, respectively. The isolated
Ones paid enrollmnent fees of ten, five, and two pesos, depenting on their
BOv
CRIMINALI2ATION OF THE
 rcgulatory systemrested. thus, on
correspondingclass. 1The the
carning
The power.
mostimportatenforcementagent ofthe regulatory prosti ute
system was the
novel medical and administrative
Inspección de Sanidad, a
under the direct responsibility of the public health
organization initially
Federal District and, since 1872,
under the auspices of thegovernment of
the
Sanitary Council. As a medical institution, it was associatcd with state Supcrior
dispensaricsandthe Morclos hospital itsclf, where licenscdd physicians per-
fomed physical exaninations of prostitutcs. In the administrative office,
policc agents werc in charge of enrolling prostitutes, issuing licenses to
bordellos and lodging houscs, arnd managing the financial aspects of pros-
Metion 1hus, by the late nineteenth century, both physicians and police
conrel
agents cnerged as powerful players in examining, identifying, and
ling sexual commerce in the capital city.
According to the regulation, the making of a prostitute began at the
registration office where she showed up voluntarily, undcrwent a medicl
examination, and, if found in good health, received a libreta (booklet)
containing her picture, name, medical certification, enrollment fee. and
official number. When ill, she was transferred to the facilities of the Morelos
hospital as adetenida (sequestered person), as public health officials termed
it, until she recovered. Thereafter, allprostitutes were expected to undergo
weckly medical examinations in state establishments. This rosy description
of the regulatory system, however, was hardly the norm. Statistical informa
tion showed that, contrary to official expectations, prostitute enrollment
did not increase after I867.25 Whereas 31I Women enrolled in that year,
only 203 did the same by the end of 1872. The ominous decay of the
regulatory system was even clearer in the rapidly decreasing number of
women scquestered at the Morelos hospital. For example, I2,496 Pros
titutes received forced medical attention in 1871: two years later only O3
women received mnedical care at the institution.
Authors have explained the failure of the regulatory system in terns of ts
Torcign origins, alleging that such system did not correspond to the a
tional reality of the country, but little attention has been paidtotherole of
at
prostitutes themselves in the system,2o Acloser look
local conditions, intertwined breakdown
of
the
with the willingness to accept prrostitutes
itself
social
agency, reveals a much more contested reality. The regulation
refected this fact. "The 1871 regulation of prostitution incorporateda con

I52
Cristina Rivera-Garz4
 unknowvn: the insometida A
cpt
herctofore term bearing
tionsof
strong connota
pOWCE,the "nonsubmissive" woman was described in article 31 as a
vigilance ofthe
. who cludedthe police and
was not
prostitutc
rgistryboOks,27 Although it was clear that the illegal enrolled
prOstitute didin the
not
dictates of the law, her pOwer did
butonto
wibit
the not lie
in
hCTcapacity of clusion. Betraying incrcasing frustration, open oppOsition
officials
spoke of the insomctida's indefinite position and
legal sphere, theenigmatic
insistenthy Beyond
inthe regulatory system.
stu:ation" the
insome-as
rdasambiguityproved difficult at a more practical level. For example,
policagCnts were forced to trust their "practical eye to identify pros-
itutes,thcinsometida'stalent for disguise often fooled the representatives
ofthela: Furthermore, confusion too led to the imprisonment of house-
wiVCSOr decent Women in more than One occasion, unleashing public out

againstthe Sanitary Police 28 An uneasy element in the regulatory

n
scheme, the illegal prostitute challenged the law enforcement agency's
methods. In fact, prostitutes' escalating refusal to cnroll in the offices of
public health successfully undercut the very foundation of the regulatory
gstem, By 1873, lack of revenues forced employees to go five consecutive
months without pay.2 The insometida thus became a crucial piece in a
complex underground reality that also involved unlicensed bordellos, phy
sicians performing medical examinations in public houses, police agents
condoning streetwalkers through bribes, and constant rivalry between Fed
Sanitation Council.
eral District authorities and members of the Superior
regulated in Mexico, but in a
As aphysician put it in 1882, vice was indeed
been toral
istinctive Mexican style in which unfortunately everything has
anarchy up to this time"30
be an obstacle for social and
Ontting images of prostitutes also proved to Indeed, debates around ne
gender classification in modernizing Mexico. aspezs of
identify and fix negative
regulation oftprostitution contributed to cult of female domesticiv grew
womanhood. Concomitantly, the Porfirian
I profles of"good" and
into afull body of : accepted ideas,31 Yet, well-defined inteilec-
bureaucrats, doctors, and
"wicked Women constructed by health changung
tuals did not reflectcreality. Instead, plagued1by anxietyin arapidly
For one thing, images ot pros
environment, they attempted toauthor it. members ofthe Portiriancie
titutes were less rigid and more diverse thandominantideologyreprescncd nodemist
were able or to acknowledge. The romanticant
Prostitutes as willing
corrupted, lazy, and diseased.
Yer,

THB BODr
GRIMINALIZATION OF
 compassion,and desire to exalt
rejection,
pocts comnbined their honestyin the midst of aa heir
and bcauty, magnity
lamenttheir
These
destinies,32 ambivalent views hypocr,ofitical seenxvuiarlointy-
whiprcohsti ution
and
ment,
the novel Santn -the first Mexican best-scller, in
Federico Gamboa, uscd cqual doses of horror and sympathy thtoe au-de-
pernneatcd
thor,
prostitution.*% Although Sa o de.
seribe the fallof a young girl to
the novel, the prostitute
bchavior at the cnd of
Ruelanever
sLadepithDoma-
elcetesd
ished for her namc. In contrast, painter José
remained holy, at lcast in
acrucl and powerful prostitute whipping a pig in his painting
dora. 4SculptorJosé Contreras, to whom Gamboa dedicated Santa, mar-
bled bodics of womeninchains andlother elaboratedsadomasochistic pos-
nternational award at the 1ons D..
ures, The malgré-tout won him an
with th.
eshibit, 85 Working-class publications, on the other hand, did away
consumer, 36 Renes
pretense of desire, denouncing prostituteS as greedy
sentations of prostitutes kept on muutplying, yet as the Sanitary Police
greater
created laws to regulate prostitution in Mexico, bureaucrats made
cffortsto confine their ever-expanding images. In fact, official reports of
the late ninctecnth century increasingly portrayed prostitutes as working
women constraincd by lack of education and skills. 37 This change in per
spective did not result from more lenient views of prostitutes but from
collection of data as well as careful analysis of statistical information. Public
health doctors played afundamental role in this process.
Whercas artists and editors approached the topic of prostitutionthrough
idealism or downright hostility, medical doctors sought to understand pub
licwomen of Mexico City through scientific mecans. Bascd on acose ana
ysis of five hundred files of Mexican prostitutes between 1868 and I572,
Manul Alfaro established that most public women were young stgt
viduals lacking family Support, The ages of prostitutes ranged fromtwelve
toforty-nine. Most (358) claimed to be orphans, while only1o4 had oneor
both parents, whether alive or not. Almost all (457) were single and child
ess. 1he report also showed that, as supporters of female domesticty
feared, most prostitutes had been active workers performing a variety of
low-paid jobs in the city,38 When it came to women, wage labor and vice
were synonyms in Porfirian Mexico,39 Yet, although poverty-relatedissucs
surfaced as causes of usedthe
in almost half of the files, the rest
cOncept of"procdivity"prostitution
to explainthe selection ofthis profession, 40Further-
more, Alfaro confirmed that prostitutes were likely to suffer from sexual

I54
Cristina Rivera-(Garza
 also denounced former statistics
he as
discascs,JCt of.
Out 86 infectcd prostitutes
suffercd inaccurate at best. In his
I as from real syphilis in
Only8
opinion, Only 31 Qut of 203 were rccordcd
1872,
So8.By in diterentiating between signs
of
truly syphilitics. Alfaro
Carcful real" syplhilis
Irs
agiouslocal
lesions."41 In the secular rendition of the prostitute,
victim of socicty. As the
andnoncon-
she was%
aboveall,the weakestof
dangerousindeed, and in necd of correction. weak, the
cane official statistics, art,
prostitute
Institutional reports, ,literaturc, ncwspaper
andthe images ofarti-
des oflate nineteenth-ccntury Mexico all but multiplied the
Iodics of prostitutcsini the mirror of socicty. Discased indecd, decfiant but
alsovictinizcd, aggressive and alluring, the prostitute emerged again and
again wrajPpedin contrasting meanings. It is clear that as physicians and
policc agentsstruggled to inscribe their bodics into the law, they invariably
met the challenge of a slippery reality, which cscaped, if not directly con-
fronted, their well-defincd profiles. As a normative structure, the regula
tions of prostitution in Mexico did not face, as in England, the opposition
of organized sectors of society.+2 Yet, Mexican prostitutes' disregard for the
rimately limited theeffectiveness of the regulatory system. The puzzle
lbsked the most important piece: a regulation of prostitution without the
onsent of prostitutes did not make social or financial sense. Soon clan
dstinaje became the rule of an underground economy of sexual commerce.
Legal initiatives, however, constituted just one of the various strategies
modernizers used to fix prostitution as a stable identity and to control its
practice. The profeSsionalization of gynecology and the emergence of an
incipient sexual science provided further legitimate tools to dissect and
regulate female bodies.

The Informners:Creating a Sexual Science

1S incredible as it may appear wrote an anonymous editor of the maga
data on
Ane La Escuela de Medicina in 1802.t is a fact that there are no real
the late
ne moral and physical conditions of the female constitution."* By
and discussion of ind
LCChthcentury, however. Mexican doctors' use protuc-
ings of European sexual science indicated increasing interest in the irele-
an
was hardly
tion of scientific knowledge of the female sex, 44 This
vant task. health and beauty of women, the
Doctors considered that the
country, andthesurvival
preservation of the family, the development of the

BODY
CRIMINALIZATION OF THE
 scientifc and moral
depcnded onthc
sex.
ofthe Mexican
Intheir nation
minds,
knowlcdgc cf
Cxamining bodicsandi providing recomnendations for
their rightful use constitutedthe basis for the construction of a moral and
modern Mexican socicty,. First, however, medicince reclaimed the bodieS of
Doctors, likewise. legitimized thcir role as
women as its own.
expertisc. The proccss bearers
included the slow decline
of
of a
new field of
(midwives)
gists
inthe ficld of obstetrics, the
ascending role of male parinstitu-
inthe carc of womcn's hcalth, and the establishment of stategynecol
teraos-
to womcn's bodics
tionsin which doctorshad access
Betorethc ninetccnth century, obstetrics monopolizcd the production
ofknowledge ofthefemale body.45 Obstetrics, howevcr, did not constitute
ascience, but rathCr an artin which traditional expertise and direct hands-
on expericnce of women without formal
training combined to seeue a
reproduction of the human species. Although it covered a wide variey of
hcalth-rckated topics fertility, menstruation, the health of children-ite
locus was reproduction, not sex. Usually older women, often widows of
Indian or mestizo origins, Mexican midwives amassed a complex knowl.
cdge of techniques, home remedies, and folk cures to maintain the well
being of both mother and child. Although the role of parteras remained
unrivaled well into the ninetcenth ccntury, public health regulations chal
lenged their position as carly as 1750 when the Real Tribunal del Pro
tomedicato issued rules and prescribed examinations to define the medical
role of the midwife, 46The ascending role of male obstetricians reinforced
this process. In 1833, doctors began teaching classes on obstetrics at the
Institute of Medical Sciences and, later, in 1842, the School of Medicine
formally included courses on this topic in its general curricula. By the late
T870s, doctor José María Rodríguez, aful-time profcssor at the Schoolof
Medicine and the father of Mexican obstetrics, was able to claim that unike
other medical fields, Mexican obstetrics had nothing to envy of Europea
sCience,* Academicobstetricians of the late nineteenth century, howevet,
lacked the practical expertise and the clientele parteras enjoyed. To coumte
this situation, the School of Medicine established a close
connecaot w
Te Ropual de Maternidad eInfancia, a bealth institution under the auspteo
o the Public Welfare System especially
devoted to the care ot o
n chldbirth and abandoned children 49Upderthe
direction of Jose Maa
Rodrigue, this novel didactic practice proved relevant for the experimenta-
tion with newtechniques as well as for the legitimization ofobstetricsinthe
medical establishment. Physicians not only welcomed and prized scientitic
156 Cistina Riverg-Garza
meritsofthcscpraCtices. but also claborated on the valuable assistance they
WOmen offrhe lower classes otherwise left to the
ofteredto public opinionwas not as favorable:
ofparteras.Yet,
dubious deviccs
purpOse ofthe House of Maternity is to offer
The bccom mothers. .. the wife of the shclter to women
aboutto
unwed woman who Comes here
wrctched artisan... the
OUng looking
shame...the honest housewife. All of them are
for a place to hide her
the victims of examinations that
now the object of
study and
justifybutt that women's forbids
modesty sciencc might perhays
even in
docsthe municipal
government have to humiliatethought. What right
assistance )50 these women who
areonly looking tor
Although the intervention of male doctors in women's bodies fnet crit-
iciS,articles and academic thcses on female sexuality grew stcadily. Doc-
orsinterestedin elucidating the physical and moral conditions of the fe-
male constitution, however, had to find alternative venues of exploration.
The bodiessof prostitutes sequestered at the Morclos hospital provedfertile
groundfor the development of the medicine of women and modern tech-
nologies of sex in Mexico. Prostitutes became informers.
On luly I2, I868, a municipal ordinance transformed the San Juan de
Dios hospital into an institution devoted solely to the care of indigent
women, mostly prostitutes, infected with venereal disease and syphilis. Still
under the supervision ofa religious order until 1874, the staff lacked medi
cal raining, trcatments were empirical and, as the creation of aDepartment
of Reformation showed, emphasis was placed on the moral correction of
women deemed as sexually deviant. In 1875, nevertheless, physicians took
over the administrative and medical control of the establishment now un
der asecular name: the Morelos Hospital. Under the auspices of the Public
Welfare System and as a medical branch of the Sanitary Police, this institu
tion welcomed female syphilitic patients who, as late as T868, had been
asisted at the San Andrés hospital. Public health authorities considered
that the character and habits of these particular female patients requred
on medical treatment and disciplinarv mcasures in an all-female environ
doctors nd
LO ensure rapid and efficient communication between
the same
police the offices of the Sanitary Police were installed in
agents, and he
In fact, the relationship between the Sanitary Police
buiMorldeinlogs hospital superintendent of
was so intimate" that, according tothe
the activitics paralleled
,they constituted a single institution whose
hospita, CRIMINALIZATION OF THE
B0DY IS7
 rules and consigns the offender, and
those of"a judge who
consigncd."$2 When riots crupted in 1870,
the jail to
the offender is the which
"ThemuricMoripale-
institution with police surveillance
government providcdthe 53
indecd as much a jail as a hospital. Both
los hospital was
policing marked the origins of thc institution.
the Morckos hospital clearly
medicine and
The rules governing specificd
the
proccdurcs and the codes of behavior expected in its admin-
istrative midst.54
Em-as
phasis onthe obedicncc, cleanliness, and decency of the patients served
basis for the authority of both doctors and health authorities. Frecdom of
movement within the hospital was restricted. Visits among paticnts, walks
in the hallways, and the possibility of performing work for the
hospital
required ofticial permits signed by physicians. Ncither destitute patients
nor prostitutes were allowed to leave the hospital without the prev
written consent of a doctor. Punishments for disorderly behavior incldo
isolation and expulsion, depending on the offense. As sequestered paticnts.
however, prostitutes could not be expelled.
Public healtch doctors discarded empirical methods of cure at the More
los hospital. They implemented therapeutic techniques used in Europe,
such as the administration of mercury shots. Although neither a definite
cure nor effective trcatments for syphilis or venereal disease existed at the
end of the nincteenth century, the Morelos hospital underwent important
administrative and medical reforms duringthis period. Under the leader
ship of Amaro Gazano, greater emphasis on cleanliness, discipline, and
order led to the creation of four isolation rooms especially designed for un
ruly women. Using newly allocated funds, Dr. Gazano also created an oper
ating room. Meanwhile, outstanding physicians practiced at the Morelos
hospital and, accordingly, ties with the Faculty of Medicine grew stronger.
Dr Manuel Carmona, for example, was atonce a regular practitioner at the
hospital and the president of the school. Nicolás San Juan and ManueB
Gutiérrez, both gynccologists of widespread reputation, practcea thete
a regular basis, The medical reputation of the Morelos hospital further
increased under the administration of Ramón Mactas from I879 to 19t
First, the introduction of surgical gynecology transtormed the treatment
discased women and attracted the attention of various specialists. Second,
because IDr. Macías used the hospital facilities to teach surgery, the
tional character of the institution was reinforced. By 1879, doctors calnieu
mat, although the Morelos hospital was formally devoted to the care o
Sypmiis and venereal disease, it was now amodern full-service hospt
I58 Cristina Ripera-Garza
 therapy grew
gincolo3Y.Assurgical
wOrkingat
this institution, claims increasi
of itsngly popular among physi-
doctors performed s9gynccol
ins During 1898-1 899, doctors
majorosurgeries
gical nature were
upheld.
in resulting
49curcsand 10 dcaths. Doctors also performed 212 minor surgeries, 206
sucCSsful results. The high rate of
ofthe cra,5s
success fostered the
Hith gynecologiSts
oltlook of under the leadership of Dr. optimistic
By1912, Carlos Zavala, the hospital devel
progrnms Cven in the midst of
opcd new i91O Mexican revolution. profound social mobilizations
Zavala
linkedto the ordered the staff to
treCsthat obstructed sunlight and causcd humidity. Hc also improved uproot
the
introduccd the use ofS
f Salvarsan to
operatingrOOm, curesyphilis, and estab-
lished a ncw maternity room where professors of the Faculty of Medicine
taught classes on obstetrics. Isolation rooms became sewing workshops in
an cttort to reform the morals of the paticnts by providing training arnd
inancialsupport. For the common people of late nineteenth-century Mex
io however, most of the advancements in the field of gynecology achieved
.he Morelos hospital went unnoticed. In fact, public opinion grew in
"teasinglv critical of the medical treatments and the prevailing conditions of
ife at the Morelos hospital. Rumors of disorder and immorality slipped
through broken windows and fecble fences. Dangers lurked inside the in
stitution and reached the public through the newspapers.
Perceiving female syphilitics only as objects of study, Mexican doctors
failed to portray the tense environment in which they worked. As health
authoritiescarried out regular inspections, official reports indicated that the
seeming peace of the Morelos hospital was altogetherfictional. Sequestered
women seldom applauded the scientific enterprise taking place in their
bodies and, instead, rebelled against the medical and disciplinary rules that
governed the institution, Riots erupted.56 Prostitutescalled them pronun
Ciamentos, which literally translated as declarations of war. Indeed, an on
the daily
80ng state of siege, a state of permanent emergency, characterizedoutbreaks,
addition to violent
t eOr the hospital, an intimate war. In
ot
omen at Morelos hospital resisted through massive escapes. Members
sensational ncws, prompdy
ean press, sensing fertile ground for in conjunction
showed up.57 "They reported that the patients loose morals to happen. lnterms
with forced but an explosion waiting
confinement
of the magnitude
were
of the conflict, they were right.
only originated trom within.
Critical views of the Morelos hospital not chefact that pros-
Conservative sectors of Mexican society deeply resented
BODY Is9
INALIZATION OF THE
CRIM
 support of the welfare system when
titutes bencfitedtrOmthe sense. 58
indigent citizens in a
strict In 19I4, Querido Moheno they were nOt
the House of
Representatives the abolition of funds devoted
Sanitary Police and the dem
to and e d in
Morelos hospital. 59 Heclaimed that the regulbotahtorythe
system was a complete failurc and that the medical examinations sperformed
hospital involved a violation to theeinherent modesty of
at the
cried out that the regulation was a caabina de Ambrosio, women.
Hc
meaning that it
was uscless and scnscless. His demand was uinanimously granted.
mounting threats from within and without, the hospital reverteddt¡ Facing
control
bv a Catholic organization during the revolutionary upheaval. Shortly
thercafter, the hospital grounds were used to take care of those wounded i
battle. In r915, new legislation enabled the hospital to reopen with its
original program, and so it remained until 192s.
Backed up by academic degrees and invested with the highest moral
roles in society, physicians gained increasing access into the heretofore
veiled world of female sexuality through institutionsof public health ad
ministered by the state. Not only gynecologists but also hygienist doctors
invalved in legal medicine displayed greater concern for the female genitalia
and their repercussions in society atlarge. In fact, the topic was so popular
among studentsof the School of Medicine that a growing number devoted
their theses to women's hygiene.In 1903, Manuel Guillén defended athesis
titied Some reflections about the hygiene of the woman during her p
berty before acommittec of the Faculty of Medicine-a text that largely
refiected the concerns with female sexuality that characterized the Porfirian
era. Further narrowing the scope of his research, Guillén maintained that
his study focused on

women's genital organs, for in them take place the capital phenomena
of the female life, which in turn have great influence on their health.
Fenale nervous predispositions are intimately linked to their genital
life, In it we can fnd satisfactorv explanations for the nwero
Pathological, physical and psychological phenomena we osetve
Women,6)

aking he female genitalia to awell-prescribed reproduCttve t

was hardly anew proposirion at the turn of the century. Establishing aclear
connection between the genital life of women and their "pathological,
physical and psychological represented, however, a
turther
phenomena"
twist in an interpretative scheme fundamentally introducingthe category of
I60
Cristina Rivena-Garza
 . When Guillen stated that "the ovary and
the
tions
that rcflect [women's ] brains,
which uterus are centers of
passions
ltogether m
nd
heretofore unknown" the determine had il ncsscs
sex,62 genitaliafcarsome
female
moderncultural locus: it became
Authorsof
these studies freely
appropriated theoretical and
become an
medical
yet Mexicanfactual infor-
found in Europcan
mation
data in local bodies. magazines, doctors alss)
rid togather Prostitutes, again, proved
production and dissemination of
in the
hasthe
sexual
most systematic attempt in this knowledge in inMexi
strument
co, al
Per-
regard was a
Mexican women, a study presented as an statistical analysis of
hvncns of
atthe
International Fair of Paris.63 Further achievement
literature the
on
of science
tion
included analyses of the pollutions of women, which female constitu-
jct offvarious articles ina medical
bccame the sub-
Cxanined women of diverse ages whose
magazine throughout I889.4 Physicians
enrOvoked by erotic symptoms included abundant dis
dreams. The complaints of young girs and
widows, but especially the generous intormation of prostitutes, led doctors
believe that such phenomena were not only conmon but also
natural
experiences among women. Meanwhile, in the facilities of mental healrh
institutions, the San Hipólito and Divino Salvador hospitals until r9I0 and
the General Insane Asylum afterward, psychiatrists often diagnosed women
of alleged loose morals with "moral insanity;" a mental isorder they be
lieved to be fundamentally linked to abnormal sexual belhaviors,65 Noted
criminologists, such as Carlos Roumagnac, also placed emphasis on the
sexual roots of deviant behavior,66 Julio Guerrero's analysis of crime in
Mexico, which he called a study in social psychiatry, also highlighted di
Verse forms of class-related sexual patterns,ó7 Hardly surprisingly, he allo
cated
greater degrees of sexual constraint tothe upper classes. Among the
very poor, women were especially prone to promiscuity and, conscquenty.
to abortions.
Poririan sexual knowledge academy. In i889,
was not limited to the
gaS consultants in the cose of woman who accused her husbat
of sexual abuse in the form of forced anal sex, physicians F Pruido and
I. Fernández Ortigosa developed a classification of normal and, by exten-
Sion, the judge.o8 In what was a
abnormal sexual actsat the request of
they detined nomal
blueprint for a cartography of perversityin Mexico,
individuals of dittereat
Copulation as a sexual act taking place between two
SCx, using the propagate thespecies. Achart of
organs created by nature to pertormedbv
unnatural acts included pederasty, detined as anal copulation
THE BODY
CRIMINALIzATION OF
 sex; sOdomy, understood.as
of their
individuals regardless animals, and.also including the use
namely copulation
of with
irrational beings,
and oral sex performed on men, allegedly widespread
on
pcrformed on women,
in Mexico.. cAdodnidtoomnsa;
abnomal acts included oral sex
masturbation,
lesbianisn. After carcful physical cxamination and legal deliberation andon
the casethat brought aboutthe above description, physicians and lawyersS
foundlon the plaintiff's body were not life.
alike decided thatthe wounds
threatening and, sincce the alleged sexual abuse had taken place within the
homcand without witnesses,the husband was left unpunished-- a decision
that aftirmed husband's rights over the interest to censure the "abnormal?
As judges evoked the expertise offdoctors practicing legal medicine in cases
elopement, medical seyl
of crimes against deccncy, statutory rape, and leiti.
knowiedge transcended the realm of scientitc inquiry to become a
behavior
mate and powerfultool in defining normality in matters of sexual
By the late nineteenth century, Mexican doctors had achieved growing
ascendance in both the private and public spheres of human sexuality.
The production of sexual knowledge in Mexico, however, was not
obstacle-free. On the one hand, cdaims of the inherent modesty of the
female constitution limited the practice of obstetricians and gynecologists
among mainstrcam women. On the other hand, doctors practicing at the
facilities of the Morelos hospital frequently met with internal resistance
what prostitutescalled pronunciamientos and health authoritics termed as
mutinies, insurrections, strikes, and escapcs. The terminology, far more
appropriate for war than medicine; strikingly reflected the tension that
permeated the grounds of the hospital. Even better, this language illumi
nated the dynamics of power relations at play bectween physicians and pros
titutes. In the midst of social dislocation and growing dsCOntent u
Mexican countryside, the Morelos hospital came to be the site of a more
veiled but equally intense social war. Sequestered female syphilitic patients
successtully appropriated the of insurrection. Doctors and health
language
authoritics cdearly understood it. As members of a "common material and
meaningful framework" they used fathomable tools, albeit for diferent
purposes,
Because stays at the hospital were usually lengthy, Opportunities for
unrest and rebellion abounded. Spontaneous or organized, rebellious acts
hindered the good reputations of the institution, disturbed medical pro
cedures, and affected the finances of the hospital,69 Riots erupted for a
varicty of reasons, yet shortages of food and unwarranted changes in hospi-
162 Cristina Riveng-Garza
 standout as major causes,70
routinC
al againstforced separation fromEqualtheirly relevant wcre
while inprostitutes
cOmplaints
ent."Althoughauthoritics often stated
that chi
obadexamples,specifically the making of al reckless
ldren confine-
handful of bchavi o r responded
inoticcd
also
thev
that wonmen promptly rcacted
cnforccmncnt of disciplinary
to
rcst rsubver
icted s iv e
access patient s,
or
rgid
measures.
the hospital, but during the carky Faulty diets had been cuk
to rnilk
rightful grounds for protest. twenticth century prostitutes
fOMaTt
as
okthis
ita
pretcxt. 7The 1910 Mexican revolution Superi
indecdntaffected
endentsthe, however, called
normal life of
Mexico Citvandithheregularfunctioning of the
the
cessation off funding in 1914 accounted Morclos of tal.
for the lack hOspi Alforthoughthis
period, doOcuments from 19I5 Onward registered ascendingrecords
squcstered prostitutes,72 unrest among
Dlhc defiance of gOvernment policies by women followed a
reoular
pattern. After the customary destruction of medical
cquipment and furni-
NOmen engaged in collective fights with nurses, clerks, and policemen
alike. Then they jumped out of windows, taking with themsheets, blankets.
and anv other potentialy useful garments. Meanwhile, prostitutes used pro
fanities generously - a feat that further marked them as indecent women.
Authorities did not remain inert. Measures taken to discipine subversive
paticnts incduded long periods of isolation and restricted diet. Also, unruly
prostitutes were deprived of their clothes and left naked on their beds for
days at atime. This procedure was called encamar (literaly, to put in bed).
The most effective measure consisted of cutting off their hair. More often
than not, organized riots were followed by massive cscapes, which con
Sututed, by far, prostitutes most common form of defiance. Although at
i868,
tenpts to escape had been numerous since the onset of thehospital in
of success
ports trom the carly twentieth century indicate that the number
1919 alone, two
ful
apes and accompanying violence had increased. In
minorescapes involng
Oreakouts totaling 94 prostitutes, and several Inthe nidst
II, rendered I03 prostitutes free from forced sequestration.* of iron
of constant disorder, hospital authorities requested theinstallation
construction ofanironten¢ at the
bars on the windows of the building, the Morels
policesurveillance."5 The
entrance of the institution, andincreased
hospital thus resembled a prison morethan ever. legitimized scientitic rescarch
and
Policies of public health encouragedof prostitutes detect, pre
in orderto
and
experimentation on the bodies and syphilis. Signiticandty,
Vent, and control the spread of venereal disease
BODY t03
THE
CRIMINALIZATION OF
 reacted by staging declarations of war, it was
as prostitutes discascd women wereinvolved in a clcar
physiciansand contested r that bt,
they collectively,
the modern
even violently, defincd the
the territory
spectrum of sexuality. Itt was precisely inthis
health crimc took shapc.
rter imodeteolartiyontnshthatipbody
of the

the
as

Nation-State
Crimc, Discase, and the
hot
The sexual nature of syphilis lett imprnts of shame and sin on the
men and womcn. Popularity known as aVera, and generally iidentified as a
secret discasc, syphilis becamc nonethcless a popular topic of analysis in
medical journals and newspapers in Porfirian Mexico. As early as 1879,
intemational studies indicated that rates of syphilis were especially hiohi
Likewise
Mexico among European and indigenous peoples alike.76
903, Mexican experts identified syphilis along with tuberculosis, typhs
hepatitis, alcoholism, and pneumonia as the seven most fatal conditions
aftecting the poor inhabitants of Mexico City," Yet, data gathered by A!
berto Pani regarding the causes of death in Mexico during the period rÍo4
1912 indicated that tuberculosis, pneumonia, typhus, cholera, smallpox,
and even alcoholism triggered far more dcathsthan syphilis itself.R Despite
this statistical information, however, medical and moral concerns about
syphilis grew in the Porfirian cra. Fundamentally associated with the dis
cased body of the prostitute, discussions concerning syphilis provided the
state an oPportunity to scrutinize, identify,and eventually regulate human
bodies.
Discussion of state-funded programs to prevent thespread of syphils at
a national level did not start until I9I8, Protected by the 19I7 Mexicn
constitution, which incorporated the right to healtch, the Department ot
Public Health acquired unprecedented powers in case of epidemics. Just as
had happened among the memnbers of the committee who wrote the at
tor the 1918 Prophilaxis of syphilis; conflicting interpretations regare
of
the right of the individual vis-à-vis the right of the state in matters
public hcaldh stalled the implementation of national prograns. Questos
abounded. "Should physicians violate their professional right tO Coniet
uaiaty in the name of the right of thecommunity? Would that npy av
bon ot æe constitutional rights granted to allindividuals?" Furthermore
"Could technical mcasures involved in the control of contagtous
ccone principles of the law? Could an administrative unit act in aconpu
J64 Cristina Riena-Gurza
 MMCrt o impose aprophylactic. system upon the
sorT
USWCIS to thesc qucstions came
about
discussiOn the regulation of prOstitution in
on
populatiandon?""The
slowly. Medical research
further
plavcd
instrumentalroles in the transformation
of postsyphilis
riatedefcctintoa health crimeof national proportions.
revolutiofromnary aMeximoral,co
Iublichcalth
doctors skillfully used medical
statistics to legitimize the
implenentation of state-led campaigns to prevent the
doctor Bernardo Gastélum,,the spread of syphilis.
Acordingto perccntage of syphipercent
deathsrosefromless than one percent in 1916 to almOst two lis-relaoftealld
deaosc Nl Simultancously, alarming news from the fevolutionary
frontsscemcd to confirm that, like prostitutes in the city, soldaderus par-
ticipatingginthe popular armies were major propagators of discase N2 From
the perspective of social medicine and the rights of the community, thís
growthjustifiedthe prosecution and eventual punishment of the syphilitic
bod:. NNote that, as with biological concepts of discase,, therapeutic methods
often mystifysocial relations. National crusades against syphilis appeared
narural, butthey were hardlyso. After all, widespread use of penícillin had
lad to rhe manufacture of Salvarsan, a cure that had been introduced in
results 83
Mexican state dispensaries as carly as 1914, often with successful
Nevertheless,health authorities and doctors purposefully fostered the sense
Although it is truc
of inevitability around the dictates of social medicine.
powerful roles
that state-led health campaigns allowed doctors to play
relevant that such roles came
in postrevolutionary Mexico, it is equally
human concern and, in
wrapped in significant meanings: benevolence,
reshapers. of human conduct,
short, justice. As explorers of sexuality, as They nceded to make a
saints.
doctors presented themselves as secular
case of their own. They did.Yet, as sound as these arguments might
Strong
perspective, they could not have made syphilis
have been from the medical
crime without further reforms of the regulatory system ot prOsthtu
nto a
tion in Mexico, considerable
the Sanitary Policeled to
Growing public outcry against I914, and,fnally,
I898, 1913,
reforms of the regulation of prostitutioninprostitution becameincreasinglv
I926. Duringthese years, the discourse on questions ofsocial order.A-
intertwined with public health concerns andbe present, they wereslightly
though moral termínologies continued to also
but
were limited to private regua-
displaced. Better said, they no longer reforned
was at stake, In fact, theSni-
reached public behavior. The nation institution,the goal of
tions openly acknowledged that, as a state
THE BODY
CRIMINALIZATION OF
 tary Police wasnot totolerate or even regulate
importantly, to control those discases associatcd with prostitution per se but, moRe
thne sexual
of prostitutes.
Public hcalth conccrns, likewisc, lcd to the reform of
the entorcing agent: of the regulation of
prostitution.
the
Sanitary
Commerce
authoritics alike maintaincd that
Cxamining and Physi cians and Polhealicth,
supcrvising the
prostitutcs provided the basis for the Construction of a bodies of
socichealty, thy sociery.
Furthermorc, if prOstitutes were to participate in that
not dispose of their bodies at will. According to the head of they could
fthe
Police,
Sanitary
Individuals have no right to live in society unless they are useful. ora
least non-thrcatening to the community. If
diseased individuals, dan.
gerous for the public health, do not willingly
from social life, then it is the duty of the segregate themselves
health of the homneland and authority to isolate them. The
than the
humankind alike is far more important
freedom of a handful of individuals, &4
Accepting charges of immorality and misconduct, the head of the Sani
tary Police proceeded to hire new
personnel and scrutiniZed the moral
background of potential police agents. In addition, he
pensary furnished with modern equipment, adding installed a new dis
cspecialy designed for syphilitic prostitutes. In order rooms and bathrooms
hvgiene among publicwomen, he also to promote genital
seum where doctors gave didactic talksinaugurated a beautiful wax mu
on hygiene. 85 Yet,
associated with the Sanitary Police kept on leaking to the wrongdoings
amounted to be"yet another typical little scandal a pres. In wnat
Violent apprehension of an honest housewife, whom journalist
a
reported tne
for a runaway police agent mistook
prostitute, 8% Although the head of the Sanitary Police
promptly sent aletter to the newspaper to clarify the facts -- the womnin
question was, according to official
records,enough:
published. The headline was illustrative a prostitute note was not
CUSAn- dehissecestro an
inspector de
public hcalthsanidad (health inspector accused of kidnapping). Stronger
measures
Responding to borhensued.
the isolationist perspectives of public. health author-
ities and legal
trade, the 1926prostitutes' demand for asafe area in which to exerçise their
mation of zonasregulation
de
of prostitution introduced the basis for the for-

166
ties
involved-- tolerancia (red-light districts) in Mexico
authorities, physicians, police agents,
City.* All par-
bordello owners, and
Cristina Rivera-Garza
 prOstitutesthemsclves-initially
CvCn reasons. Health
grected this project with
diferent
authoritics the
ttectiveMeNS to)combat growing disorder onpresernted this initiative as an
beittor approval,
disseminationof moral and biological strects as well as harm
ful tavOred
the geographic
viruscs throughout society. Police
concentration of
gents
bccUse it facilitated their work. Doctors bordelos and lodging
houscs supported the
formation
of red-light districts because they allowed greater control of syphilis and
venercal discases.
Bordello owncrs, in open
cmbraccdthis mcasure in an cffort to competition with illegal pros-
titution, protect their profits. Iastly,
lcgal prostitutes,for whom streets had become increasingly unsafe, also
welcomed this project. Infact, in letters sent directly to the president,they
repeatedly demanded the creation of red-light districts, which they per-
ceived as a means to safeguard their trade and fight the competition of
illegal prostitution.* By placing themsclves under the protection of the law.
thev demanded respect for rights accorded to all Mexicarn citizens. How
ever,
although evidence of consensus abounded, the implementation of
red-light districts was an altogether diferent story. By r929, in spite of
unable to reach a
ongoing general agreement, the parties involvedwere tolerancia.
zonas de
Compromise as to where and how to establish the
red-light district was to be
The1926 regulation clearly specificd that the
preferably on the outskirts
located as far as possible from residential arcas,
Prostitution, however, already occupied vast sectors of down
of the city.
Mexico City. Entire neighborhoods around the historical district,
toWn
Cuauhtemotzin and.Santa Maria la Redonda, were known tor
Such as the
business. Attempts to relocate de facto red-light
roooming prostitution
opposition. On one hand,
districts met with widespread and vehementaftect them economicaly, tor
removal would
prostitutes alleged that any
acauainted with prevailing arcas of sexual co
red-light
CS were already potential sites for othicial uwbu
merce. On the other hand, residents of of shariugtheir
consequcnçes charge
districts resented the damaging moral protests, thecommitte n ouly
space with prostitutes. Facing mounting zonas de tolerania, adtng requirug
had no alternative but to accept CXiSting specific strectsak they
tratlic in deteusive move,
stronger measures such as blocking frankly aklug
surveillance,89 In fact, iin a red-lighe disteicts, lhe
specialized police schools out of existing urban
plauukes,
Suggested the relocationi of unwiting
evicknt. The
debale,
a critical about
here and there
comnment hcalth authorities Wasalltoo
sound defeat w
of Public
BODY 107
however, continued. CRIMINALIZATION QF
HE
 Especially vocal in this regard was a civil association of the Cuauhte.
motzindistrict, an organization including factory and
well as workers. In atemperate letter addressed to the head
ment of Public Hcalth, they denounced the material and
propertytheowncrs as
of
prostitution in the arca, demanding its immediate moral effDeectpsart cof
posal is intimately linked to the ever-so-important effort relocation.
to Our pr(-
city, which is an integral goal of the committee to
1929, it had become incrcasingly clear that health
improve
promote tourism"% the
authorities were in o
position to fulfill their demand. Significant sections of the
and the Santa María la Ribera districts became officially
light districts.°1 In this way, rather than impose
Cuauhtemotzin
condoned as red-
state was forced to adapt existing demarcations isolationist
established measures,
by
the
itutes themselves. the pros-
In evaluating the project for the 1926 regulation of prostitution, further.
more, oficial observers noted that measures of control had only
triggered
illegal prostitution. For this reason, they proposed a greater
understood as the creation of an environment of "more reserve, iberalidad,
less for
mality, and less pressure."92 The recommendations included the establish
ment of centers of hygienic care especially devoted to women who either
Cxcusively or partially lived off sexual commerce; the substitution of male
police agents by female ones in areas of prostitution, and
granting all
women the right to seek nedical assistance in private hospitals and institu
tionsother than the Morelos hospital. In financial terms, and
the morality of a regulatory system that overtly disapproved of questionng
while cconomically benefiting from it, they also supported the prostitution
membership fees and fines for prostitutes, bordellos, and lodgings. abolition of
very foundation of the regulatory te
system was
ln trying to detect what could be realisticallyunder siege.
done in terms of regulatiO,
Critical observers evaluating the 1926document also
questioned ana a
tempted toredefine the social idenitv of the prostitute, Former
co the prOstitute as a woman who had
rcgulaton
than one man, either for lucrative purposes orsexXUal intercourse
to satisfy a vice." with mot
This inter-
Preatn, the head of the Sanitary Police aroued in 928, ostensibly lhte
win he private sexuality of women, an area better left to the u
ment of the individual and
not to the state, The regulation could indeed
elaborate on moral matters, but only when behaviors aftected the well-
being of the community, Amore refined version thus read: "A prostitute is a
Woman who
Cngages in sexual intercourse with various men tor lucrative
I68
Cristimn Rivera-Garza
 withOut
woman who, evCn
A
purposcs. lucrativealso purposes
intercourse with various mnen will in mind,
a engages
be
in
sexual overt

onlvif
her
public
a1nd frequent behavior
morality"3 Const it utconsi
es a d ered
danger prostpublic
for itute
hcalthand and
Faced
with.Continuous and relentless
relentless
reformed, stood pressure,
the rcgulations
regulatios of pros
CVenwhen on shaky
titution,
previously confident in the ground. By the latc 1920s.
authoritics
ostitutes increasingly found
liberal» regulatory system's
ability to controB
pcrspectives more appealing, On
battles for the definition of urban space in
going
critical views of the Sanitary Policc in
conjunction
with mnount-
national newspapers opened the
ing
eor groups supportng an aboitionist policy.* It was at this nreri
con this tense ground, that projects of syphilis prevention became
Imarkers in public health policies. As the regulatory
owerful
impulse crum-
before frustrated eyes, representatives of the state attempted to re
assemblethe fallen pieces. In trying to gain the upper hand in this
lic health process,
doctors designed national campaigns against syphilis. Rather
han obiective state initiatives, these health crusades came as a response to
growing displays of local power in which prostitutes played active roles.
During the 1920s public health concernswere rearticulated within the
larger ideological framework of the Mexican revolution, Based on the right
to hcalth incuded in the 19r7 constitution, public health authorities strate
gically combincd notions of economic development with prograns of so
cial justice to legitimize the emergence of state-led campaigns to prevent
cpidemics, notably syphilis. The ascendance of the medicine of sex and the
institutional infrastructure of the public welfare system proved instrumen
tal in this process. The introduction of the delitos de contagio sexcual y nubrcN
or delitos de contaminación intersexnal in the r929 penal code was, withour a
doubt, a sound victory for public health doctors and postrevoluionary
0Cal medicine. Punishment for those who knowingly infected human
wockdavs.
uded one to six years in prison, and a fine of fortythree
Those who unknowingly transmitted the disease paid 1fnes of to ten
and additional dam-
workdays. They were also responsible for treatment
ages inflicted on innocent victims. Physicians who id noc warn ther pa
tients of he cOntagious nature of syphilis received, accoring tothe law,
unout
fines of five to twenty work days for the first offense, and a double
their nedical
for the SUspension of
second. A third offense caused the
licenses for a year. was to punish syphilitic
Although the overt goal of this penal code
BODY
CRIMINALIZATION OF THE
 prostitutes prompty became
bodics regardless oftheir sex, men all over
he
Duringthecarly 1930s,
letters from
publicly denouncing
Department of Public Health milicu
the country
prostitutes mantargex.
arrived
them,95 In the midst of a
medical
stricted female sexuality, this
relevance was the fact that, through
that
twist did not comne as asurprise. (
public accusations, the
foreveninfecing
associated syphilis with
Of unre
more
names, geographic locations, and specific
addresses of names, nick.
prostitutes becarne
rcadily available to authorities willing to takc legal action against them. in
other words, empowered by penal legislation, men fulfilled roles
plaved by agents ofthe Sanitary Police.
And at no cOSt. The previously
criminalizatio
of the syphilitic body proved to bc an alternative strategy to control .
same prostitutes who hadlevaded the regulatory system. Among men, onl
n
intected soldiers received similar attention. 96 Authorities advised cOmpul-
sory medical examinations in army barracks and imprisonment for infected
soldiers. Concomitantly, physicians elaborated health guidelines for young
men, which fundamentally included sexual abstinence and nonogamous
sexual relations within the sacred institution of marriage.
Although public health authorities and physicians presented sexual
crimes and antisyphilitic campaigns as natural and irrevocable measuresto
protect socicty, they nevertheless constituted awell-selected strategy of
power to deal with disease. For one thing, ever since the late nineteenth
century medical science had demonstrated that venereal disease and syphilis
were two distinctive conditions with varying degrees of mortality. Even
Manuel Alfaro, the architect ofthe regulation of prostitution, diferentiatecd
between "real syphilis and "noncontagious local infections" Postrevolt
tionary doctors in charge of prophylactic programs hardly mentioned ths
tact. Even when they did, they failed todiscrinminate and rank the associated
health dangers. This silence was political, There was aso the problem o
Salvarsan. Mexican doctors were aware of its existence. For example, state
dispensaries recommended the use of this medication and, on more th
One occasion, infected men sent letters to the Department of Public Het
asking for the miraculous cure. Putblic health authorities, however, opted
for a more massive, interventionist undertaking. Again, this option came
into being as the regulatory systemi fellto picces. State concerns withpublic
health legitimized increasingiintervention of health authorities inthe realm
of sexualiy. Better said, the interventionin
medical and social
syphilitic bodies, which first exhaustivein the late nineteenth century gave
emerged postrevolutionary Mexico, P1blic
life to the realm of
modern sexuality in
170 Cristina Rierg-Garz
hcalthdoctorsstrenuously fought to establish sexual normality and, like
identifyits pathologies, Through the
to
wise,thensclvestitles of expertise in such
bodies
of
prostitutes,
areas
as
gynecology anddoctors
rics, whichtheylater used to support codes of sexual behavior tailored to
gave obstet
the modern nuclear family. To be
nccds of clear, public health
sexual abstinence recom-
the sexual matters primarily included
mendationsin
marriage, and strict
monogamy afterward. The before
scientific status of their
professions.and the ideological rcach ofsocial medicine contributed artifice,
onrested social relations, by presenting sexual
conccalingcontested
creations, When sixty-cight years of guideliges as
natural regulatory
endin 1935, national programs to prevent syphilis impulse
replaced came"aboli
it, The to an
"ofprostitution triumphed. After all, as Dr.
tion"
Bernardo Gastélum
cinctly put it,in a world without syphilis, prostitutes would beccome work
ers and, more importantly, what theypreviously did for money, woald
then do for love97

The Sexual Subject: Power and Fragility

The syphilitic body became a crimninal construct in 1929 Wher the domai
ofsexuality was inscribed in the larger frameworkofpublic health. Asithad
been during the Porfirian era,syphilisbecame afertile avenue forthe anal
ysis and identification of sexual behaviors Social spaces medicaly designed
for sexual normalcy and sexual devíancycame into existence. In the post
revolutionary era,furthermore, the fndings of the medicine of sex and the
Cxtensive legislative and administrative structure of hospitals andstatedis
Pensaries proved instrumental in theenactmeht ofthe construc imes at
SCxual contamination? Social constructs of sexuat normaity and sexat
deviancy were now ncorporated into normalizing legal and medicat prac
es and institutions. Strategies of power transversing the syphilitic body
uus resulted in the emergence of a new. specifically modetn doman o
Cxuality in whichsexual identities grew inereasinglyfxed. Inthis domain
took place the feminization of syphilis In this domain also took place the
Teminization of thesexual subiect.98
The became bocles of knowledgein the
dangerous
field of sexual bodies of prostitutes
science in Mexico. During the late nineteenth century scien
tific research about sex began as an inquiry into the female question"
women's bodiesin order
Physicians fought
a relentless
to become 8ynecologists,
access to
war to haveand
obstetricians, experts in sexual matters They

BODY 7
ORIMINALIZATION OF THE
 welfare institutions, notablythe
achicved this goal inpublic
tal, in which indigent women and
medical carc. Thus public woncn's
scientitic ficld. From its very
prostitutes affected by
ailments and
sy Mo
phiirc
slostr
the oms gave recevea
origins, then, sympt
new
ficld of
Mexico was uncquivocally the ficld of
of this scheme weretwofold. On one
s
ffeninine sexuality. The
hand,the production of sociCXu
al ali ty in
effects
female
through
scxualityfacilitated the deployment of well-
-defined
which the female experience was at oncc fixed
knowl
sOcial
and
ed ge cf
identities
Thercbythe hegemonic higure of the
her wicked,
domestic angel, the good constrained.
perversc twin sister, the prostitute. On the other Woman, and
hand, how.
ever, disciplines, legislation, and institutions produced a sexual
which was also female par excellence. Feared because it was
active; dan-
gcrous because it could transmit discase; in need of control
because, if
unsupervised, it could cause the destruction of the family and the entire
nation. The power ascribed to this sexual subject was, without doubt. eno
mous. Was it a pretense designed to facilitate thecxercise of the vertical
power of the state? Was it perhaps real?
Prostitutes seemed to have understood the potential uses of this scheme
when, in 926, the League of Defense of Fallen Women wrote a letter to
President Calles demanding justice.9 The incident that triggered the pros
titutes' protest was common enough. They resented that their children
were not allowed to stay with them at the facilities of the Morelos hospital
whilereceiving forced medical treatment. In a twO -page document, pros
titutes paradoxically portrayed themselves as mute women whose delicate
position in life prevented them from speaking out and demanding justice.
They also identified themselves with unfortunate creatures forced by stren
uous circumstances to scll their used fesh in order to get the miserabie
metal coins which rule our society and, through which, all happutess
achieved"i00 Assuming common depictions as unworthy, despicable and
low, they nonetheless asserted they constituted the only protection lelt
Mexican familics whose male memberscontinuously took risks by e
D Mhat sexual activities, "We want to let you and society know tnat W
the onlygarantia of Mexican homes"101 [n the
prostitutes'vieW, t
sexual subject, the dangerous element in need of control and supervision
Was unequivocally male, As inatwisted mirror, public Women threwtheir
Socially cOnstructed image back on their creaors. This document, neverthe-
less, was designed to reach the compassion of apowerful man,che presicdent
himself, whom they described as honest and fair in his decision-aking.
172
Cristina Rivera-Garza
 remainssignificant in this
text is
not only the
What
scNualsubject, but prostitutes
the sexual
very usc of it. strategic
Under displacement
thc
of
in
spccitic practices,
tions, showcdits truc face. subjcct, which was female,specific condi-
reversal.It
FurthWithout
anorgaization,called the Women ermore,Homes, signingmadeas engaged
before they in
sure to in-of
members
principles of the Revolution and respcct for the
the
nation, those murkyfrecdom granted
oke
individuals,"102 The theme of thc
o surfaced. oncc again. Prostitutes waters of state
formation,
rightfulIcitizens of tthe courntry.
reclaimcd rights they deserved
as prOstitutes who.
Avcar latcr, a group of called
of misfortune, bittery Complainedthemselves the irredentas,
the daughters against various ínstances
misconduct by members of the Sanitary
of
toward illegal
Police. They especially criticized
leniency
police agernts' prostitutes,
of nationalism or betrayal, Mr. especially foreign ones.
"Is this a matter President
asked.l03 Their list of
they directy
charges was long. Although prostitutes paid for Sal-
shots and other medications on their own, the regulatory system
reased fees and fines. Also, when they labored at the workshops of the
Morelos hospital, they did not receive wages. Even worse, when in jail,
authorities denied them access to food. Does it mean that we are outside
the realm of law?* they questioned. Do not blame us. We used to be
factory workers and rural laborers, but factories have closed and activities in
the field have stalled. We believed that 70% of us were forced to lead this life
out of necessity, and only 30% chose it because of personal proclivity to
vice?"104 (Gender-aware, these nationalistdaughters of misfortune combined
strategic uses of concepts ofvictimization to denounce growing immorality
inmale members of the Sanitary Police. "Is this moral?" additional pupiis
asked when referring to violent mistreatment suffered at the hands ot the
Sanitary Police, 105 In an even more paradoxical example of reversal, a
WOman used her status as a leg:al prostitute to ask health authortes ter
elp.e VWriting from a state dispensary, she requested treatment at tne
Morelos hospital because she sufered from venereal discase. When access
ue hospital was denied. she uncovered the true reason behund her te
gueSt, Shehad left the mala vida to live with aman in the neighborhoou
Tacuba, but the who kcked her up at
man turned out to be an alcoholic
this house to
home. This yOu to take mc out of
man is rotten, I want as
continue with my life....I take me." Shesigned
will be gratefulif you
the queen-devil, la
It
is
Diablesa. eSsay, which began with
allu-
not a gratuitous coincidence that this
BODY 3
CRIMINALIZATION OF TtE
 sionstonmalc-authorcd portraits of prostitutes as saints,
sclf-deseribcddevilishfemale figure. As Michacl Taussig
ends noW witha
Genctand
the maleficium of state fetishism, there is
disconcertingand"wonderfully
instructive"in this twist, 108
La
esoamboetrhaitnegd onJanonge
at
not rejct, but
rather.assumcdlong-lasting depictions of evil.
and Diviacbelesa dii
ated withprostitutes.Inthe
casc of)f Jean Genct, Michacl
"tetishi" who spoke backand "thus perturbed what was said on 1Tauig thespokeaSS0-of a
bchalf. In this sense he can be said to
be an agent of
fetish's
deef
Reversing and unreversing herself,the queen-devil>'s misstveetish izatio n" 1
broughtbutnewsalso
of power (after all, she was resortingto public health authorities),
news of the fragility of that power (after all, she attempted to use public
health authorities in her behalf). The making of a discourse, Michel Fo
cault once sustained, "transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but it
also undenmines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible fo
thwart it."0 The moden sexual subject emerged precisely in the knots of
power and fragility in which the postrevolutionary reconstruction of the
Mexican state took place.

Notes

I wish to thank Andrew Wicse, Betsy Colwill, Roger Cunniff ánd Ricardo Sal
vatore tor their comments.
I Profláxis de la sífilis," in José Alvarez Amézquita et al., Historia de la Salubridady
ae la Asistencia en México (México: Secretaría de Salubridad yAsistencia, rg60),
Pp. 111-137.
2 Coaigo Penal para el Distrito yTerritorios Federales (México: Talleres Gráficos de la
Nación, 1929).
3It was short-ived because the penal code of r931 no longer inchuded prescriptions
against syphilis-related health crimes.
4 See Michael Taussig, Reifcation and the Consciousness of the Patient,
Nervous System (NewYork: Routledge, 1992), pp. 83-109.
sudics on this issue began as early as 1927. See "Relativo alas reformas del Coigo
Penal, 1927 Archivo Histórico dc la Secretaría de Salubridad y Asisteihel.
Salubridad Pública; Seción: Jurídica; Caja: s; Expediente: I2. Hereafterreferred
to as AHSSA.F:SP; S:Sj; C:s;seeExp:12.
6 For a detailed description, Anthony J. Mazzaferi, "Public Health and Social
Revolution in Mexico, 1870--1930" (Ph.D, dissertation, Kent State University,
1968).
7
Amézquita et al.., Hstoria de la salubridud yla asistencia en México, p, 72:
174 Cristina Rivera-Gurza
 intormationonthe criminalization of drug
s For sceibid., 1I, 145, I53.
holis1n,
Roscberry, "Hegemony and the
consumption, abxortio, and akco-
pert M. Joscph
and Danicl Nugent, cds.,
Ngotiationof Rule in
Languagc
of
of
Everyday State ForCaontmatetontn:ion" in Gi-
Modern Mexico
amdthe
Press, 1004), Pp.
3S5-366. (Durbam, NC: Dhike UniRevalverutsioitny
llbid.p.304.
IlIn MexiCO,Syphilis was usually referred to as "enfermedad secreta"
rcflection
Michc Foucault s critical about the "repressive
12
thispoint.
Scc History of Scxnalty: An
Introduction hypothesis" is iseful on
(New York: Vintage., 1978}.
10-13. Also relevant are "The History of
pp.
Flesh," in Powcr/Knowlcdge: Selective lInterviews and
Scxuality" and"The Confession of the
Other Writings,
lork: Pantheon, 1977), pp. 183-228. rg72-t997
(New
The
IW'alter Benjamin stated:
which
traditionof
the oppressed teaches us that
we live is not the exception but the the state of
cmergency in rule" See Walter Ben-
jamin, "Thescs on the Philosophy of History in, Iluminations,
ed. Hannah Arendt
Ney York:Harcourt, Brace World, i969), pp. 253-264.
Walter Beniamin stated: "lo articulate the past historically does not mecan to recoe
nize it »the way it really was It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at
the moment of danger. See ibid., p. 257.
1 AHSSA.F:SP; S:1AV; C:I, Exp: I. For information on carher attempts at regulat
ing prostitution in Mexico, see Julia TuDón, El album de la msjer: antalogis iastria
de las mexicanas: vohinen II/El Siglo XIX (8zr-1880) (Méaco: Instituto Na
cional de Antropología e Historia, 1991), p. 98. For a derailed descripion of lare
nineteenth-century regulations of prostitution in Mexico, sce Ixche! Jordá "Pros
titución, síflis ymoralidad sexual en la ciudad de México afines del sigio XIY"
(M.A. thesis, Escuela Nacional de Antropología, 1993), pp. 43-81. For histonai
analyses of efforts tending to regulate sexuality in Europe, see Catherine Gallagher
and Thomas Laqueur, eds., The Making of the Modern Body: Sexnaliy and Socry m
te Nineteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987); JohnG
Fout, ed., Forbidden History: The State, Society, and the Regulatin of Saaiy in
Modern Europe (Chicago: University of Chicago Pres, 1992),.
10 hdrnán Quiroz Rediles, El bosbital Morelos (México: Departamento de Saubriua,
(183o): I
1933), PP. 67-72; El hospital Morelos La Escuela de Medicina I/16
17 The followed guidelines cstablished bv Parent
regulatory system
Duchátelet France. See
in
in Mexico
Parent-Duchârclet, De la prostibution dansleVille de Pars

(Paris: J. B. Bailliere ct fils, 1857). ondenes, banis, aspsi-

18 Sec José María del Coleceión deleyes, suprena
Castillo Velasco, Distrito Fedeval (MMexico: Caslle
ciones de policlaay reglamentos de adminstración del
andthe rise of the
modern
prostitution
Velasco e Hijos, 1874). For an analysis of of Ssusal Dangcr
in
city, sec Judith Walkowitz, City af Drcatful Deligbt: Naraties1993).
Late VictorianLondon University of Chicago Press,
(Chicago:
7S
THE BODY
CRIMINALIZATION OF
 COnscjo Supcrior de
AHEACM, Salubridad,
643. See
J0 "Reglancntos," "Los reglamentos para el cjercicio de la prostitución
Morales Mencses Guadalupc Ríos de la Torre and Marccla
Fem
10(1I6):12-16;
prostitutas,""in Constelaciones de Suárcz FsMécsibkoai
"Reglamentaris1no, historia,
UNAM, 1990),pp.,
129-I49.
Sevand Dangerin
BucnosAires: P'rostitntes,
Modernid (Méicgy
Familyand tDavid
DonnaJ. Guy,
SccArgentina (Lincoln: Univcrsity of Nebraska Press, 1991). Sce also he Me:
20 in
Creer; This Life ofMiscryand Shame': Female Prostitution in Guatemala Ciry.
Natum
I880-1920," Jounai of Latin Anerican. Studics 18, no. 2(1986): 333-353.
21 Sce Laura Engclstcin,"Morality andthe Wooden Spoon: Russian D Doctors View
Siphilis, Social Class, andi Sexual Behavior, 1890-1905,°in Gallagher:and Laqueu,
169-208.
cds., Tlhe Making of the Modern Body, pp.
22 Pedro Escobedo, "La reglamentarización de la prostitución,""La Escuela de Medicima
X(1889): 405-407.
9.
23 AHSSA. F:SP; S:IAV; C:I; Exp: 3,
Nancy Leys Stepan
24 For an analysis of the cugenicmovement in Latin America, see
America (Ithaca. NY.
The Hour of Eugenics: Race, Gender, and Nation in Latin
CornellUniversity Press, 1991).
S:IAV; C::
25 Informe del C. Médico Jefe de la Sección Sanitaria," AHSSA.. F:SP
Exp: I5.
sexual." Also, Javier
26 See Ixchel Delgado Jorda, Prostitución, sífilis y moralidad
Morales Meneses, LoS reglamentos para el ejercicio de la prostitución en México."
27 AHSSA. F:BP; S:IAV; C:1; Exp:1
often resorted to
28 Lacking technological cquipment, members of the Sanitary Police
what they called their "practical eye to identify prostitutes. Incidents involving the
Vale, "la
tatilure of police agents "practical cye" are reported in Ramón Félix del
situación del obrero en México" EIOrero Mexicano I/9 (1894): I. Ako, "Gace
tilla, El Obrero Mexicano I/ 16(1894): 4. Failure coninued over time, sec "Abom
inables excesos de miembros de la policía, ElSal (October 12, 1927), PI.
29 "Informe AHSSA, F:BP, S:LAV;C:1; Exp:15.
30 La Independencia Médica II/s4 (I882): 2.
31 See Wiliam E.French, Prostitutes and Guardian Angcls: Women, Work ana us
Family in Porfirian Mexico, Hispanic American Historical Review 72/4 (1992): ide-
s29-533. See also Carmen Ramos Escandón, "Señoritas porfirianas: mujer e
Ologa en ed México progresista, I880-191o" in Carmen Ramos EscanouColegio
eds, Presencia ytransparencia: la mujer en la bistoria de México (México: EI
de México, 1987). Especially illustrative in this regard is the collection of prinary
sources included in Ana Lau and Carnmen Ramos Escandón, eds., Mujeres yrewlu
cÑn, 1900-1910 (México: VerenaRadkau, Pr
INBRM, 69-270. Also, see
nuestro ser": mujeres1993),PP.
la debilidad de (Mexico: SEP/Fdi
cioncs de la Casa (Chata, de pueblo en la paz porfiriana
r989),

176 Cristina Riverg-

-Garza
 AcuDa, Juan Valle, and
vt,"rostitucion. Hilarión
Frlas in Ixchel
, sitilis y moralidadi sexual," pp. 29, 102-103. IDelgado
Santa (México: Utopfa, 1903). For an analysis of
sCC Margo Glantz,
La
lengua en la mano (México: the uses of the
3s2,
Iremiá, t983),
sof erotic art in MexicO,,sce Margo
Socicdad 4 (1977-1978): 31-39. Glantz"Artc erótico de Méxica?
Sc Muriio Tenorio, Mexico nt the World Fairs: Crafting the Modern Nation
Berkcev: Universityof California Press, 1996), p. IiI.
30 Irostituciónclandestina," La Convención Radical Olbrera 2(1887),in Martha Fva
Raha, El album de la mujer: volumen IV]el porfirato yla revolución(México: In-
stituto Nacionali de Antropologia c Historia, 1991), p. I10.
"Memoriadela prostitución AHSSA. F:SP; S:IAV; C:1; Exp.4.
8 Inthetable "Jobs and trades of prostitutes 1868-1872" Manuel Alfaro showedthat
among prostitutes there were I46 domestic servants, 84 Scamstresses, 6z laun-
dresses, 61 uncmployed, 35 peddlers,,23 shoemakers, 17 embroiderers, r3 grinders,
shatmakers, s textile workers, 4silk workers, 4market vendors, 2hairdressers. 2
matchbox makers, I upholsterer, and Iwax sculptor; 32 did not answer. See "Me
moriade la prostitución"
See Radkau, Por la debilidad de nuestro ser, pp. 28-34.
a0 In the table "Causes of prostitution I868-1872., Manuel Alfaro classifed the an
swers from 326 prostitutes as follows: 169 proclivity for the profession, 125 pov
ertv, 12 forced by their parents, 8escaping family mistreatment, s jcalousy, +forced
by their lovers, 2cxpulsion from home. See "Memoria de la prostitución"
41 "Memoria de la prostitución AHSSA. F:BP; S:IAV; C:;Exp: 3,4.
42 For an analysis of the English middle-class nonconformists, feminists, and radical
workingmen who sucessfully challenged the Contagious Discase Acs in t87o, see
Judith R. Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the Statz
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980).
43 "Insensibilidad fisica de la mujer" La Escuela de Medicina X, no. 33 (1892): 63I
634.
44 For an analysis of the emergence of sexual science in Erope, see Cynchia Eagk
Russet, Sesual Science: The Victorian Construction of Womanbod (Canbriige,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989).
45 See Nicolás Martíncz,,La obstetricia en Méxiço: notas bibliognifcas, énkas, bsorcas,
Tipogaia
document arins y criticas de los orgenes históricas basta el año 1o10 (México:
de la Vda. De E. Díaz de
Ieón, 1910).
46 For a detailed description of the regulations of the Real Tribunal del Protomedi-
cato, see
47 Silvestreibid., p. 20Roja,
Romero . "Hojeada histórica sobre obstericia en Mexico" Pastesr

N,no, 1(1931): 280.

BODY 77
CRIMINALIZATION OF THE
 de Medicina l, n0. $
obstctricia,"La Esnela de (1879):
3.
de "Hospital
"Chiica
48 historica deCrispin
Margarito
Castellanos, maternidad infancia.
c
un centro de bencficenia pública de finales dcl sigl,
40
atencon
mnateo-infantial: apuntcs para
bridadvAsistencia,
1993), pp. 95-115.
su bistoria (México:
Seoretaría Porspeti ra
de Sal
108. AISSA..
so lbid., p. Morelos, 1898-1899" F:BP; S:EH; 9
S "Inforne del
Fxp: 0, 17.
hospital

0, 18.
Se:M;I
S2 lbid., Exp: bospital Morclos, p. 74.
Quiro0z Rodilcs, Bre bistoTia del
S:EH:
S3 hospital Morcos, 1900," AHSSA, F:BP; Se:HM, lg
s4 "Reglamento del
ss Exp:34,
"Informc12-14.
del hospital Morclos, 1898--1809, AHSSA. F:BP; S:EH: Se:HM; Ig.4

Exp: 9, 21.
hospital Morclos, I81,".AHSSA. :BP; S:EH;. Se:HM;lg2;
Exp:t8
só "Repote del 1916, 1919, 192o" AHSSA ERn
hospital Morelos, 1914,
Sec also Reportes dcl
3, 7, I5, 18, 19, 20.
S:EH; Se:HM; Lg:I0, II, I4, I8; Exp:
pupilas llegan a las vía del hecho, EI Phuee
- 4Escándalos en el San Juan de Dios: las
(Marzo 13, 1902), p. I.
MedicinaI, no. Ió (1880): I.
<8 Hospital Morelos," LaEscuela de
(México: Imprenta Francesa, 1915).
s9 Felix F. Palavancini, Los Diputados
sobre la higiene de la mujer durante su
60 Manuel Guillén, "Algunas reflexiones
pubertad" (thesis, Facultad de Mcdicina, r903).
61 Tbid., pp. 2-3.
62 For a discussion on the concept of
cultural genitals,see Harold Garnfinkel, Srudies
N.J.: Prentice-Hail, 1967).
inEthnomethodology (Englewood Chfs, himen
El en México (México: Oficina de la
63 Francisco de Asís Flores y Troncoso,
Secretaría de Fomento, 1885).
I, no. I0 (1889):I.
64 "Las polucioncs de la mujer:" Luscuela de Mediina
Narratives: Inmates and Psychiatrists Debare
65 See Cristina Rivera-Garza, "Mad
Mexico I9r0-I93O
Gender, Class and the Nation at the General Insane Asylum,
(unpublished manuscript). criminal (Meico:
66 Carlos Roumagnac, ILos criminales en México: Cnsayo de psicologia
Tipografía El Fenix, 1904). sOCHAl(Mexico:
67 Julio Guerrero,, La génesis del crimen en México: estudio de psiquiarra
Labrería de laviuda de Ch. Bourct, 190I).
atentados cOnT cl
68 "Mcdicina legal: Dictamen pericial en un caso de delito de
pudor" La Esuca de Medcina I,no. 1o (1889):4.
Se:M; 18*
yorte del hospital Morelos, 1891" AHSSA. F:BP: S:EH;
Fxp:i8, 3.
70 "Aclaracióon, 1902, AHSSA.F:BP, S:EH;Se:HM; lg:+, Exp: 26.
"AIC. Presidene de la República, 1926, AHSSA, F:SP, S:IAV; C:3; Exp:+

178 Cristma Rierg Garza

2"Reportesdel hospital Morclos, I9I4, 1916, 1919, 920, AHSSA. F:BP: S:EH:
II,14, I8; Exp: 3,7, IS, T8, 19, 20.
Sc:HM;1g10,hospital
Morclos, 1916, AHSSA.
*Reporte del F:BP; S:EH,
Exp:.
hospital Morclos, 1919," AHSSA.
Se:HM; Lg:10,
"Reporte dcl F:BP; S:EH; Se:HM;
4
Exp:18. Lg:10;
"IntorncdeInspección, 1916,° AHsSA. F:BP; S:D;
vénériennes Sc:(Paris:
DG;LJ.g:B.18,BaiExp:l iére,21, 194.
-; des maladies
Julicn, Traité pratique
o Louis
p. 496. 1879),
--
Gonzalo Méndez Luque, La ciudad de México alos ojos de la higiene"
Escucla Nacional de Medicina, I903), p. 66. (thesis,
Hygicne in Mexico: AStudy of
-8 Alberto J. Pani, Sanitary and Educational Problems
Naw Jork: G. P. Pumam's Sons, I917), P. 34.
de
o Proflaxis de la sífilis," Historia la Salubridad yl Asistencia en México, pp. 11-
137.
$o Ibid., p. 135.
Ox Bemardo Gastélum, "La persecución de la síflis desde cl punto de vista de la
garantia social AHSSA. F:BP; S:AS; Se:DAES; L:1; Exp: 11,7.
82 Ignacio Sánchez Neira, "Higicne militar," in Memoria del VII Congreso Mkdicn
Nacional II (México: Secretaría de Educación Pública, I923), pp., 401-408.
83 "Reporte del hospital Morclos, I9I4} AHSSA. F:BP; S:EH; Sc:HM; Lg:8;
Exp:43. Especially: "Se pusieron 33 inyecciones de salvarsán 6o6
84 "Informe que presenta el médico Jefe de la Inspección de Sanidad, r923" AHSSA.
F:BP; S:IAV; C:2, Exp: 34, I.
8s Ibid., 3.
86 Acusan de secuestro a un inspector de sanidad, Excélsior (February 4, 1929), p. 3.
AHSSA. F:SP; S:SJ; C:16; Exp:17.
87 "Observaciones relativas al reglamento para el cjercicio de la prostitución, 1926.
AHSSA. F:SP; S:SJ; C:17; Exp:19.
88 "AIC. Presidente de la república, 1929 AHSSA. F:BP; S:SF; C:I3; Exp: 2.
$9 "A los CC. Jefe de Departmento de Salubridad Pública yJefe del Departamento del
Distrito Federal" AHSSA. F:SP; S:IAV; C:3; Exp: 10.
90 "Junta de Obreros, Industriales, propietarios y vecinos de las calles de Cuauhte
motzin yadyacentes? AHSSA. F:SP; S:SJ; C:17; Exp:19.
y1 "Ias zonas de tolerancia en el Distrito Federal, 1929} AHSSA. F:SP; S:IAV; C$
Exp: II.
92 "Observaciones relativas al reglamento de prostitución del 12 febrero de 1927"
AHSSA,F:SP; S:SJ; C:17; Exp:19.
93 "Observaciones al proyecto del reglamento federal para el cjercicio de la prostitu-
CIÓn, 1928" AHSSA.
94 "Reglamento coontra F:SP: S:SJ; C:13;, Exp:
Jas enfermedades 2. reformas al código penal, 1935-
venéreas,
"conssted or
SSA, F:SP; S:IAV: C:4: Exp:12, The abolitiouist systen1

BODY 179
CRIMINALIZATION OF THE
 prostitutionbbecauseit is an
cxistence of absolute
recognizingthesystematicanddimplacable prosccution of
not involved]a
poblacioncs froonterizas, the soial
causes otfacprto.st,
[Italso Prostitucion cn las AHSSA,
rution." Sce
Exp:s, 1. This
systcm was usedlin Brazil; sec Sucann F:S A:; SSh.
SvA; C:27;
Birth of Manguc:
Racc,
J.
Nation, and
Guy
Politics of Prostitution in
and Danicl Balderston, cds. Sex and de
I8s0-1942,"in Donna Ney York University Prcss,
1997), pp. 86-106. n
Caulfeld,"he
Rio
Jarer,
Scoxmality
AmeTia (NewYork:
os "Atas
Latin levantadas contra prostitutas, 1930-1933," AHSSA. F:SP; S:IAV; C4

Exp: 10.
Proyccto de campafña contra enfermedades venéreas
en la
o6 a Mexicana. Importancia en nucstro pais del lamado proyecto noteameri.Re.
Horacio Rubio,
pública,
cano," in Memoria del VII Congreso Médio Nacional, pp. só6-s76. Emphasis on
soldicrs rclatcd to sOcial concerns about their "abnormal" status. Peter Beatie
barracksfunctioned as the male
noted thatin Brazil"prior to 1916, the
women from
ofthe bordcllo: both attempted to isolate dangerous men and
Codes: Moderm
honorable houscholds." See Peter Beattic, "Conflicting Penile
Bal.
Masculinity and Sodomy in the Brazilian Military, r860-1916, in Guy and
derston, eds., Sex and Sexuality in Latin America, p. 69,
o- Bernardo Gastélum, La persecucion de la sflis, 13.
ser
98 Although Robert Bufington pointed out criminologists' interest on male
ualities at the turn of the century, the medical establishment, however, empha
sizcd otherwise. For cxample, Carlos Roumagnac's attention to female sexual
"perversity was not an exception, but the norm. Also, while massive examination
af women's bodies led to the normalization of terminologies (a prostitute became
a prostitute in a modern sense), the same did not happen with homosexuality
untilwel in the 1930s. See Robert Butfington, L0s Jotos: Contested Visions of
Homosexuality in Mexico in Guyand Balderston, eds., Sex and Sexuality in Latn
America, pp. I18-I32.
99 "Las mujercs sin hogar, 1926,} AHSSA. F:SP; S:IAV; C:3; Exp:4.
100 Ibid., 1.
I01 lbid., 2.
102 Ibid., 2.
103 "AC. Presidente dela República, 1927zAHSSA. F:BP;S:SJ; C:I3; Exp:
104 Ibid., 2.
1o5 "AC. Presidente de la República, 1o27»AHSSA. F:SP:S:LAV; C:% ENp: 2,
0 -MedioJcfe de la Inspección de Sanidad 1020"AHSSA. F:SP; S
Exp: 23.
107 bid., 1.
198 Taussig, "Maleticjun: State
109 lbid. P. 140. Feishisnm""in The Nervous System, Pp. I-l40.
1o
Foucaulr, Hisury of Sesualiy p. 101.
180 Cristins Rivera Gurza